Performance Analysis of RF Energy Harvesting Unit for IoT Applications

We analyze the performance of RF energy harvesting unit for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. A rectenna is designed at 2.2-2.4 GHz bandwith low incident RF power levels and load impedance. The complete unit is simulated by using ADS and performance of the device is evaluated. A voltage doubler rectifier topology using Schottky diode is included in this unit to achieve maximum power conversion efficiency at low and high input power levels. The power conversion efficiency obtained at input power, Pin=10 dBm is 74% for load, 10kΩ when the rectenna topology uses zero biased detector diodes. It is observed that the power conversion is high only for high RF input power levels above 10 dBm. On the contrary, the power conversion efficiency at Pin = -10 dBm is 25
^%
for load, - 10kΩ, when DC biased detector diodes are used. This is comparatively higher than the topology implementing zero biased detector diodes for low input RF power levels.